Wednesday 12 May 2010

I'll show you mine...

Hello everyone! I am Odette of the swann&smerlin shop and I am so thrilled to contribute for the Etsy Ireland blog. Many thanks to Ruth of Nice Day Designs for the invitation!

Something about me: I've been living here in Dublin with my husband for about two years only but I'm in love with this country already. As an immigrant, it is important for me to feel that I somehow "belong" and being part of the Etsy Ireland team is one of the many reasons why I feel "home" here. It is amazing how crafting can bring people together and through this blog, even without seeing each other face to face, you can still feel some sort of kinship with one another.

So...welcome to my craft room!
I had to re-arrange this room recently because we had guests coming, and i had to make some space so they can at least move around our only spare bedroom. It is quite a challenge to tidy up when you have hoarded loads of stuff crap and you only have half a small bedroom to manage along with. I like to work with my supplies right close at hand, and seeing them is a source of inspiration for me.

  1. tissue paper for wrapping shop orders
  2. packing area - holds my thank you cards, adhesive tapes, scissors & a roll of baker's twine
  3. chest of drawers holding stocks of glassine bags, cello bags and rolls of baker's twines
  4. tins and boxes holding ribbons and sewing notions
  5. stocks of deco tapes and paper washi tapes for my supplies shop
  6.  more shop inventories, some WIPs waiting patiently for their final packaging
  7.  baskets of yarn and fresh lavender for a new project
  8.  my sewing/daydreaming/writing table. also holds my basket of outgoing posts and more craft supplies.
This window lets in a flood of natural light, so it's perfect for working with my sewing machine, or writing thank you notes, or for sitting around with my cup of coffee in the afternoon. My husband joins me here sometimes when i need help rolling twines! ^-^

This bookcase used to sit in our bedroom and i dragged it in my craft room because it can hold so much and yet take up so little space. I pimped it up a bit using wallpaper which i snagged on a sale at Laura Ashley. The table next to it is my packing area, my favorite part in every sale i make.

I used a wooden cutlery holder from Ikea to hold my Thank You cards, calling cards, postage stamps, stickers and tags. A set of tin buckets holds my baker's twine and scissors and cutters. This table has shelves under it which conveniently holds my bubble mailers and mailing envelopes.


The closet on the far right holds my sewing machine, fabrics and boxes of collected scraps and bits and pieces of everything with crafting potentials.
And this concludes our mini-tour of my mini-craft room. Before you make any conclusion though that everything looks neat and organized, i'd like to let you know that it wouldn't be anymore in the next 24 hours. It just so happened that when i took these photos, my guests (my mother-in-law and her childhood friend) have just left for the Netherlands and therefore I haven't been in this room in the last few days to mess it up. ^-^

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for Etsy Ireland members and readers, grab a special discount from my new website, swannandsmerlin.com!
Use the code ETSYIRELAND before checking out and get 15% off your purchase.
Code valid until the end of May 2010.
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Happy Wednesday!

12 comments:

  1. So this is where the stuffs come from before they are sent to different locations. Odette, I lovelovelove your craft room. I wish someday when we finally settle I will have a craft room like yours. Never mind if it doesn't stay neat all the time :D

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  2. Zarah, thank you! that's really sweet of you to say. ^-^

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  3. Gorgeous room Odette. I was just about to say how on earth do you keep it so neat but then read the last bit!! It looks like an inspiring and wonderful workspace indeed.

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  4. Odette your space looks so lovely. Now I know why your packages are all so beautiful - you are so organised and creative and have great little ideas even in your work room! Thanks for sharing with us.

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  5. It just looks so perfect & organised (even if it doesn't last) I'd love to get my space to look like that for just one day (I'd settle for an hour)

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  6. thanks Alex! i'm glad i was able to photograph my room at its neatest, i don't know when's this going to happen again. ^-^

    thank you Beth! i love simple ideas, and hates spending for things if i can re-purpose something from the house. the table i'm using for my packing area is a giveaway from someone in our town's online forum. he needed the space in his house so i gladly took it. he even delivered the table to my house! :D

    thanks Letizia, it helped that my mother-in-law came over for a weekend with us! got me on the groove to organize the room. ^-^

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  7. So jealous! What a beautiful, organised space. Your packages do arrive cute as can be, it's lovely to see where they come from.

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  8. To echo Balanced - it's lovely to see where the delightful packages you send come from :) Judith

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  9. Odette, this is a gorgeous craft room. So bright and colourful! Thanks for letting us have a peek!

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  10. Odette you're putting me to shame! my office is a blizzrd of paper and thread at the mo! What a wonderful new site you have - I'm very happy to take advantage of that great discount too! :D

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  11. Odette what a fab space, the natural light is beautiful as well ;o)

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  12. awww, many thanks ladies, i'm thrilled! ♥

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